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ExtraBITS for 20-Jul-09

Oxford English Dictionary Returns to the Mac -- After our article about Wordnik, a TidBITS reader pointed us to the newest version of the Oxford English Dictionary on CD-ROM, which brings the electronic version of the massive (500,000 words, 2.5 million quotations) O.E.D. back to the Mac after an absence. It costs US$295 or 169.57 pounds and requires Mac OS X 10.4 or later. (Posted 2009-07-15)

App Store Sees 1.5 Billion Downloads in First Year -- Apple has announced that the iTunes App Store has topped 1.5 billion downloads in its first year of business. Given that the 1 billionth download came on 24-Apr-09, a mere 9 months after the store's launch, the store is clearly picking up steam, with over 500 million downloads in the past three months. The number of available apps also continues to grow (now over 65,000), as does the number of participating developers (now over 100,000). Quantity is good, but here's hoping the App Store does a better job of helping users discern quality in the future. (Posted 2009-07-14)

Microsoft Releases Silverlight 3 -- Microsoft has released Silverlight 3, a major update to its cross-platform multimedia software. The latest version, used for streaming video for Netflix's Watch Instantly service among much else, supports higher quality video and audio, adds loads of developer tools, and enables content to work on your desktop as opposed to only within your Web browser. (Posted 2009-07-13)